Welfare spending to rise by £73.2bn to £406.2bn

[topicalaffair]

Over the next five years, the OBR is forecasting that UK welfare spending will rise by £73.2bn to £406.2bn.

How does everyone feel about this? I’m livid because I pay lots of tax. I don’t mind paying tax to maintain a civilised society - but this? This is surely taking the piss and will result in weaker and weaker services as the amount of £ available reduces day by day.

YANBU - it’s totally deranged. The every growing uk population can’t function effectively on such a benefits for all basis.

YABU - this welfare spending bill is truly representative of need.

Oh ok. Thanks for letting me know. Do tell me what ‘my agenda’ is, please.

The issue for many isn’t that they’re not capable of any work… but that nobody would hire them. Why would companies pay the same money per hour (as is legally required) to hire someone who is possibly less capable of doing the work/ less available/ needs more adjustments made etc. There’s enough workers without added difficulties that they don’t need to.

So people who have health issues or who are ND are passed over even if they could work some hours on some days with some adjustments.

This is nothing to do with “spongers”. It’s the natural consequence of:

• an aging population (pensions)
• right to buy and privatization of the rental market (unaffordable rents driving up housing benefit)
• over a decade of underinvestment in the NHS, leading to long term sick leave when minor problems that could be treated, become intractable major ones
• inadequate funding of early years childcare, meaning particularly single parents are unable to make it make sense to work full time
• over a decade of underfunding in social care, leading to healthy adults leaving the workforce to become full time carers to children, disabled and older adults
• over a decade of underfunding in CAHMs and early prevention, leading to children growing up and “aging into” the workforce and finding that they are not at all capable of preparing for the world of work

I could go on. But there’re vanishingly few people out there who want to rely on state benefits - pensioners don’t prefer state money to private pension income; nobody wants their relative or child to be so dependent on them for care that they have to leave the workforce. Nobody wants to pay private landlords 1000s a month for insecure and unsuitable accommodation.

But here we are. And now the chickens are coming home to roost.

Labour did say they wanted to bring the cost down but both of these are in the opposite direction.

Ok, help us out then. How can I become a high earner with no driving licence, the inability to do manual labour for any extended period and no jobs locally?

I agree. I meant people whose condition may/could change. not people in your position.

Agree- why has nothing been done about this injustice?

.

Well the LA won’t find a school place for my disabled child forcing me to drastically reduce work and care for him. So I love off your tax money. Not my fault though. Every child has a right to an education but disabled children are being shafted while the parents get all this judgement we lazy leeches. I’m not paying off my mortgage or into a pension. My whole life had been ripped apart and I will care till I’m too infirm in poverty until I die because the roll of the dice is I have a disabled child and his rights mean nothing to society

Where there is a will, there’s a way. Or, you know, Trump.

i actually don’t care about the two child benefit rule because I think first and foremost most we should tackle why higher income households on two wages are still entitled to child benefit over single people on the same income living alone with kids. It makes no sense at all.

Would they? And yet every poll shows Regotm in the lead, who wish to end most of these welfare payments. 🤷‍♀️

My husband is a higher rate taxpayer and I am on a small pension (medical retirement) We are absolutely fine with the amount of tax he pays. Employers need an educated healthy workforce, a good transport and digital infrastructure. Society needs a good policing and justice system etc. Of course none of these things are great at the moment precisely because the last government prioritised cutting individual tax bills over keeping our society and our economy going so this is where we have ended up. Most of the welfare bill goes on pensions and in work benefits. Housing benefit is pretty much out of control because the Conservatives sold the Council Houses and now people have to pay whatever the private rented sector asks for. Meanwhile most of those who bought their council houses with enormous discounts ended up ultimately selling to private landlords. I am interested in the comment that we can't afford the NHS. Who do you think could afford to pay thousands of pounds a year for Insurance as in the USA?

There are some charts here if you click the archive link to the news article I linked earlier. Here again fyi

https://archive.ph/DWQBX

I don’t have an issue with lifting the 2 child cap

child benefit should be universal, it used to be and is in many other countries.

The State Pension is labelled a “benefit” for political convenience. Even people who never worked get it as ageing is universal, and surviving shouldn’t mean being poor.

See what you mean. There’s no solution is there?

@CandidOP I said with the current model we cannot afford the state pension and the NHS.

However, Reform's core support is amongst people on benefits. A conundrum for Farage.

Yep. Until Cameron was in power, it was separate, along with Widows payments. Then they decided to call everything “welfare handouts” 🙄🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

You do realise it’s not about what is known family allowance, which every child is entitled to?

Which never makes sense to me!

Yes I think there is some confusion here.

@Allseeingallknowing I don’t understand what you mean. The 2 child cap is separate to child benefit. Child benefit needs to be paid back if you earn “ too much”.

Well it’s spread amongst many groups - rural communities, pensioners not on means tested benefits etc

They have made it crystal clear that they don’t buy into adult sickness/disability claims for anxiety etc or things for children like ADHD etc. They've made it clear they dont acknowledge “long COVID”

I don’t know or care if they will be elected - but things might change if they are. 🤷‍♀️